[LMB] Rise of the Medications was OT: if civilization fell

[quietann]

On Feb 5, 2008 12:41 AM, Patricia A. Swan <zafaran at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> At 04:01 PM 2/4/2008, quietann wrote:
> >I personally would be one of the dead ones, as I am a Type 1
> >insulin-dependent diabetic.  I suspect a lot of the Type 2s, as long
> >as they didn't have a lot of diabetes complications, would do fine,
> >and maybe better in a situation where physical labor would be a
> >necessity.
> >
> >quietann at gmail.com
>
> One of the things that Dr. Dean Ornish confirmed as sort-of a
> side benefit of the extremely low fat vegetarian diet he studied
> for reversing heart disease is that diabetes control and kidney
> health improved.  I can confirmed that it did so in Mother's
> case as well until I became ill enough myself that I was unable
> to cook for us and stopped the Ornish diet.  Her health
> deteriorated noticeably after that point.

(apologies in advance for the rant)

No!  No! NO! NO! NONONONO!!!!!

I do NOT have the kind of diabetes that can be controlled or cured by
diet.  Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease that attacks the
pancreas and ***destroys*** the beta-islet cells that make insulin.

My body makes NO insulin.  None.  Nada. Zip.  It has not since 1976,
when I was 11 1/2 years old.  The body cannot use the calories in food
if it does not have insulin.

It does not matter what I eat.  I *must* have insulin from an outside
source.  These days, it's genetically engineered human insulin,
supplied by an insulin pump.  Yes, the amount of insulin I need varies
according to what I eat, but even when I'm fasting, my pump has to
give me insulin.

Back in the bad old days before animal-source insulin was available, a
child with Type 1 diabetes *inevitably* died.  A few were kept alive
on starvation diets for a year or two at the most.  And let me say,
having a good memory for my first experience of diabetic ketoacidosis,
it was more humane to just let them die.  Trust me on this.


My apologies for ranting, but this has been a sore spot since a few
months after I was diagnosed, when some
hippie-freak-vegan-health-food-nut friend of my mother's told her that
I could be cured with a "macrobiotic" diet.  Luckily, my mom had
enough clue to ask my doctor before making any changes, but it was in
those first awful few months, and she had a terrible time even
speaking to this woman afterwards, just for getting her hopes up.

I had a few good years where no one made comments like that, but ever
since the incidence of Type 2 diabetes started rising, I've repeatedly
had to explain that no, my body does not work like that.  I am not
insulin-resistant.  I just don't make any insulin on my own at all.
Type 1 is a completely different animal than Type 2, and those of us
who have it often feel shuttled off to the sidelines because the type
2's outnumber us by about 15 to 1.

-- 
quietann at gmail.com

aka "The Accidental Jewess"